Cable operator Virgin Media has announced that it will be upgrading broadband speeds for up to 2.6 million households in the UK.

The upgrade is expected to be carried out in May and will see home broadband connections enhanced from 2Mbps to the company's new lowest-speed service of 10Mbps. According to the company, these advances will allow more people in the same household to use high bandwidth services, like the BBC iPlayer or online games, simultaneously.

The move will mean that Virgin Media customers can now choose from broadband services of up to 10Mbps, up to 20Mbps and the recently launched super-fast speed of up to 50Mbps. The 10Mbps service is expected to cost £14 a month when adopted with a Virgin Phone line, a price that the company claims is around half of what consumers can expect to pay for competitive ADSL services, but with double the output.

Neil Berkett, chief executive of Virgin Media, said: "Our entry-level broadband product is now twice the speed of comparable services and, with our new 10-20-50 range, we clearly offer the highest quality broadband service in the UK. "...We are proactively developing the UK's broadband market, driving consumer expectations and the demand for high speed broadband services."

Virgin Media's announcement comes shortly after the Office of National Statistics revealed that broadband now accounts for over 95 per cent of all internet connections in the UK, showing a year-on-year increase of 4.4 per cent.

Industry experts state that the cable firm's move is indicative of its support for the government's Digital Britain policy, through which it hopes to provide universal broadband access for all households by 2012.